The Duty of 
The American People 



as to the 



Philippines 



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y-j^^ 








194?i 



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-^^Tof CONGff^ 



1898. 



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Introduction. 

It has occurred to the writer to connect together a few facts 
that every bod}^ knows by means of a few thoughts that every one 
entertains. 

He has not attempted a discussion of political economy or 
of international law. The ideas set down in the following pages 
are only those that seem to grow naturally out of the new condi- 
tions created by the record-breaking achievement of Admiral 
Dewey. 

The first Sunday of May, 1898, opened a new vista by which 
to forecast the events of the Twentieth Century. Since the adop- 
tion of its Constitution the government of our United States 
had agricultural land to give or to sell to all comers, until within 
the last few years. Since the government land offices were closed 
many new doctrines have been heard ; Socialism, Anarchism, 
etc. It may be that in the wisdom of the Power that overrules 
the actions of men. Admiral Dewey has been the appointed 
means by which the solutions of these questions shall be deferred 
for another hundred years or until they can be answered by a 
generation that is wiser than we. 

If in such connection a few simple thoughts, inartistically put 
together, can at all aid to bring about a concrete conception of 
national duty, the writer will have done all that he can at utmost 
hope for. 

As these words are being written the second division of the 
army of occupation has been landed on the island of Luzon, 
Spain's arsenal has been occupied ; guns have been taken from 
her sunken ships by American sailors, and erected in fortifica- 
tions built by American hands upon the captured territory ; two 
of the island gun boats are sailing under American colors, and in 
that capacity have visited and exercised authority over the smaller 
seaports : practically nothing of conquest remains to be done 
except the proclamation of it. 

Here then is a question for the people of the United States : 
Shall these Philippines be retained ; or, if not, what other dispo- 
sition shall be made of them ? 

If the United States remit the right of conquest the natural 
result follows that they revert to their original possessor. That 
is Spain ! Before assenting to this conclusion, it must be 
remembered that war has been made upon the postulate that 
Spanish colonial government is insufferable. Only the con- 
tinued, persistent ill effects of Spanish government at our very 



doors would have drawn our attention to the great evils that it 
entails. When it became impossible to overlook these things, 
it has been well said the}' have been found "intolerable." So 
intolerable ! that we have made war to correct them. If then 
the United States should place back a large population under 
what it has called intolerable conditions, it either condemns 
itself as having made war upon insufficient grounds, or it becomes 
a party to the political crimes against an innocent people that 
would ensue upon such action. 

To return the islands to Spain is to stultify ourselves as a 
nation. 

The question of indemnity is not involved in this consideration. 
Indenuiificatiou concerns the return of dollars for dollars lost or 
expended on account of the party from whom the indemnity is 
due. It does not apply to questions of virtue or character. As 
it would be impossible to indemnify a man for being a liar, so in 
the same sense no money could indemnify a great nation for 
breaking a trust that it had voluntarily assumed or for ignoring 
its moral obligations. 

If there is justice in these thoughts it would not seem 
possible for the United States to return the Philippines to Spain 
either freely or upon the payment of money for their repurchase. 
It must be admitted that this is not an agreeable conclusion 
to reach. The government of these islands would constitute a 
new obligation of a character to be avoided, if possible. There. 
is no colonial secretary among our cabinet ministers, and no class 
among us, used to the government of dependent peoples. 
Political appointments naturally go to those citizens who have 
made themselves prominent in political affairs. But political 
education among an independent people brings out just the 
reverse qualities from those needed to govern a dependent people. 
Men in political life with us necessarily defer to the wishes and 
opinions of those among whom they move and by whose good 
will they maintain their positions. This necessity creates an 
entirely different habit of mind from that of the man whose busi- 
ness it is to take care of the people about him and to enforce his 
will upon them. We are thus not only devoid of a system for 
colonial government, but cannot readily secure the personnel from 
which such a system is to be built up. 

Under such circumstances the obvious course would be to 
dispose of the islands to some responsible power having experi- 
ence and proper organization for management of colonies popu- 
lated by dependent races. 

If surface indication may be accepted as demonstrating a 
current of desire, the North German Empire is willing to relieve 
us of any responsibilities we may have incurred as to the Philip- 
pines. It has even been suggested that Germany would take the 
islands off our hands and guarantee this country the payment of 
an indemnity from Spain. This would probably be a better fate 
for the islanders than to be delivered up to their original mis- 



government, and we might derive some additional benefit by 
securing more satisfactory commercial relations with Germany. 
To secure better treatment in the German custom houses and 
more liberal markets there for our exports would be a gain worth 
having. 

If such advantages were sure to be obtained and to be per- 
manent there would from the merelj' commercial aspect be a 
strong argument in favor of withdrawing from the islands in 
favor of Germany, under proper treaty stipulations. On the other 
hand it should be remembered that the party opposed to this 
country in Germany, are the Agrarians, or large landed proprie- 
tors. This is a powerful party, has strong affiliations with the 
government, and might under favoring circumstances secure con- 
trol of the Reichsrath. The}'- are largely dominated by interests 
growing out of the culture of sugar beets and would bear us no 
goodwill, but rather the revense, for thrusting on them the great 
cane sugar product of the Philippines as a competitor in the use 
of German capital aiid as a rival applicant for government boun- 
ties. The beet growers of Prussia and Hanover will not thank 
us when the Imperial Government encourages sugar cane in the 
Philippines ; nor would the islanders feel that we had treated 
them properl}^ to hand them over to an empire whose most power- 
ful class would be eager for the destruction of the chief industrj'- 
of the islands. 

The political divisions and interests of North Germany being 
what they are, the temporary advantage our commerce might 
gain in the Baltic by a transfer of the Philippines could not be 
permanent. In the end we would find we had taken no com- 
mercial benefit from a transaction in behalf of which no justifica- 
tion other than commercial advantage could ever be alleged. 

Failing an honorable escape from the Philippine difficulty by 
a transaction with North Germany, it is still possible to look 
further for help from the great European powers. 

Russia, of course, is out of the question. She has even 
more of the continent and fewer islands than ourselves, and is so 
far less fitted than ourselves for the management of extra conti- 
nental territory. The indomnitable resolution of the Tchin or 
governing classes of Russia is gradually pushing her out upon 
the seas that reach her extremities, and eventually she will have 
a seafaring class and commerce of her own — but that is a 
question for another day. 

Austria, under the guidance of her venerable Emperor, has 
become one of the most conciliatory of all the great Powers, and 
through Trieste and the Dalmatian coasts possesses a commercial 
marine having the best traditions of early Italian commerce. But 
the struggle to maintain the integrity of her own empire is too 
keen and undecided to permit of distant enterprises ; and beyond 
that, — her mission is to the Balkans. 

In our relations with France there are certain points of 
resemblance to those with Germany. Each buys largely our 



agricultural products, and in each there is an agricultural influ- 
ence warmly opposed to us. There are other adverse sentiments 
which would be well for us to conciliate in France. Ownership of 
Spanish bonds, religious sentiment, and race affinity have united 
to irritate different classes of the French people about the present 
war, and even to create anxiety lest the islands of France in the 
West Indies might be attacked by the American people in a mad 
lust for conquest. 

France lias been a useful ally to us in the past and may be 
again. Both sentiment and prudence would forbid giving her 
any just cause of offense, and would even justify a strong effort to 
concilate. It would be interesting to watch the graceful genius 
of France build up an oriental Paris on borders of the Indian 
Seas. Yet the reasons that would make it ignominious to trade a 
dominion for the smile of Germany w^ould apply with equal force 
to prevent seeking by the same means the favor of France. 

The Philippines could not be transferred, either to France or 
Germany, upon any reasonable terms without incurring the anger 
of the disappointed nation to a degree much beyond any benefit 
to be won from the other. 

Entirely different considerations arise in reference to Great 
Britain. England has something substantial to exchange with 
us for a great oriental territory. Hardly more than a day's swift 
steaming from any port on our Atlantic seaboard she holds one of 
the strongest fortresses in the world. The Bermudas hold a 
great place in our colonial history and our ancestors would be 
amazed could they contemplate the vacuity of the modern Amer- 
ican mind in regard to them. But England has remembered 
them and has built a sea fastness there whose strength might well 
have brought a smile to the face of her Admirals, when they read 
President Cleveland's message about Venezuela. 

There is also Jamaica, inhabited by self-governing people of 
our own race, and situated but one day of rapid steaming from 
the entrance to the proposed Nicaragua canal. To exchange the 
Philippines with England for the Bermudas and Jamaica would 
not be getting a strict quid pro quo in territor}^ and wealth of 
population, but the incidental advantages would make a fair 
equivalent, and there would be no sacrifice of national dignity in 
such exchange. Neither would there be the sense of having 
sacrificed the interests or safety of the islanders. England is not 
always gentle in her treatment of aboriginal peoples, but she 
never deliberately robs them, while at Singapore and in the 
Straits settlements she controls with ha^jpy effect a large po])ula- 
tion of nearly the same race as the dominant tribes of the 
Philippines. P'roni her experience in government of colonics 
England has trained up a class of skilled administrators for whom 
we have no equivalent class now- in being, and by having men so 
trained she would be able to reduce the Philippines to settled 
conditions and to maintain order with less difficulty than we shall 
be able to do. 



North Germany and France would not be pleased by snch 
exchange with England, but neither would feel the degree of 
resentment that they would entertain were the other made reci- 
pient of our good will. 

If England were willing to exchange Bernuida and Jamaica 
for the Philippines, the United vStates might very well accept the 
opportunity to be free from more distant responsibilities, and at 
the same time to protect her own shores. 

But it is not probable that England would make such 
exchange. She has enough in the East and not too much in the 
West Indies ; and while present cordial relations exist, would 
prefer Americans to have some community of interests with her 
m Eastern questions. The Philippines are many times larger 
than Jamaica, but their present commerce is not proportionately 
greater, and Jamaica and Bermuda are bound to England by 
many vested interests, by family ties and by long and treasured 
historic relations. 

Under all the circumstances it would appear that having 
entered upon the Philippines, we cannot release ourselves from 
the care of them without loss of dignity and honor. Whether in 
following the new departure thus opened before us as a nation, 
we shall still keep honor and dignity, depends upon the manner 
in which we gird ourselves for the task. 

There is encouragement that the two most successful of colo- 
nizing nations have been the English and the Dutch ; one very 
near kindred of race to ourselves and the other of kindred not 
remote. It is reasonable to believe that the same race character- 
istics which have led them to success will also be found among 
ourselves ; and it would not be reasonable to fear, that our more 
free republican institutions had disqualified us for the task. 

To achieve the proper administration of these isknds there 
are facts to be considered and problems to be solved. 

Primarily the great question of administration resolves into 
maintenance of peace and order ; development of commerce ; 
education of the people, and colonial finance. To consider 
these heads in the order given will ensure better comprehension 
of the exigency of dollars entailed by the whole. 



Maintenance of Peace. 

To maintain the peace of the islands will require acquaint- 
ance with the character and conditions of the peoples living 
there. Recent events are bringing out many facts about the 
natives of Manilla and the surrounding districts on the island of 
Euzon. The Tagals are but one of the larger tribes among a 
very considerable number having diverse characteristics. These 
different tribes seem to have grown up from various crossings on 
the original negroid (or Papuan) people by incomers from the 
Malay peninsula, China and Japan. Settlements made from 



these several quarters at different times, and having different 
degrees of contact with Chinese or Japanese civilization, have 
produced a curious medley of tribes or race subdivisions. The 
Visaj^as are said to have had some degree of ciilture and a written 
language at the time of the discovery of the islands by Magellan ; 
yet in the interior forests of Luzon, some of the smaller tribes 
still exist in a state of most degraded cannibalism. Thus on 
the discovery of the islands the difference in scale of develop- 
ment of the inhabitants of this limited region, as compared with 
our own Indians, would be greater than that between the Aztecs 
or Incas, and the Digger Indians. Since the Spanish settlement 
of the Philippines the lowest tribes have not risen a particle, but 
the more intelligent have embraced Christianity and become 
largely infused with European blood. 

Under this description come much the larger part of the inhabi- 
tants of Manila, the population of which city is estimated by 
ex-United States Consul Elliott at 400,000. The surrounding 
Tagals comprise some 1,500,000 more, and are the race from 
whom the inhabitants of Manila derive the greater part of their 
native blood. The Visayas of the islands lying next to Luzon 
are also Christians and somewhat more numerous. Besides these 
there seems to be no single tribe of any considerable importance, 
unless it be in the southern island of Mindanao, where the people 
are of more nearly pure Malay stock, and where there exists the 
semi-independent sultanate of Buhaten. It is evident that.very 
different situations will occur from those of which we have expe- 
rience in dealing with our American Indians. Manifestly the 
Filipinos have great agricultural aptitudes, as only an agricultural 
and intelligent race could produce the volume of exports sent out 
from these islands. That they should have been able to exist for 
more than three hundred years under Spanish domination proves 
them to have a very much greater power of endurance than the 
natives of the Antilles, who have wholly disappeared under the 
same influence. That they have submitted so long to that 
domination indicates that they are not of the stern warlike char- 
acter of Mahrattas, Sikhs, or Pathans, with whom England has 
had to deal in the peninsula of Hindustan. In the main their 
character seems to be what their blood would indicate. They 
appear to have something of the tenacity of the Chinese ; some- 
thing of the loyalty, adaptability and artistic temperament of 
Japan, and underneath all something of the craft and of the 
liability to fierce bursts of passion, characteristic of the Malay. 
But of the whole population, at least the Tagals and Visayas 
must be accepted as a permanent people, capable of competing 
with any in tlie struggle for existence ; not degenerating when 
crossed with European blood, and likely to improve incoming 
generations. Yet neither in numbers or in character are they 
able to stand alone. 

It should be remembered that the southern islands of the 
Philippine group and the dependent Sulu Archipelago are the 



original homes of those pirates of the Chinese Seas who in old 
days terrorized all Eastern commerce. While the increase of 
naval power in those waters may have rendered piracy impossible, 
the character of these southern islanders has changed during fifty 
years in no essential particular. They would be uncontrollable 
by the combined strength of the Visayas and Tagals, even if 
these two tribes should harmonize sufficiently to form a perma- 
nent government, which consummation the history of past con- 
flicts between them gives no ground to expect. 

The conclusion is inevitable that for their own sakes and the 
peace of the world these islands must be controlled from outside ; 
but also that their population is capable of being so controlled 
without great difficulty, and is abundantly able to repay the care 
that shall have to be exercised on their behalf. 

A high English East Indian officer is reported to have said 
that ' ' an army of twenty thousand islanders would make the 
Philippines as safe as a church." He naturally had in mind an 
army constituted as the Imperial Sepoy army of India. That 
army is composed of one native enlisted man for about each one 
thousand of inhabitants and is stiffened by about one-third of 
European troops. All commissioned officers are English and the 
artillery is manned by English. 

An army bearing the same proportion to population in the 
Philippines as England's army in India would not call for more 
than. ten thousand troops, and eventually that number, when the 
islands have become quieted and the L,ine thoroughly accustomed 
to American service, may be found sufficient. But for the present 
all the questions of the Far East radiate toward the Philippines. 
There are a number of half subjected tribes to be held in order, 
and there must for some time be a remnant of disaffected popula- 
tion among the Spanish sympathizers. 

Unquestionably it will be prudent to maintain for the present 
a show of strength beyond such force as would be needed under 
the ordinary conditions of police duty in times of peace. 

Besides the army on land, another important instrument for 
maintaining the peace of the islands deserves to be considered. 
There is hardly another group in the world that shows so many 
miles of sea coast. They lie compactly together, presenting from 
east and west a main shore line to the Pacific and to the China 
Sea, but through the midst of the group there appears one broad 
channel, starting from the'south shore of Luzon and dividing the 
islands into nearly equal parts until it expands into the Sulu Sea. 
Across this inner channel scores of smaller channels lead to the 
ocean or the sea and by their subdivisions create the thousand or 
more islands that make the archipelago. 

The two main shore lines and the inner channel make, 
roughly, four thousand miles of coast, that would need constant 
supervision in the interest of commerce and internal peace. 

It is a consequence of this formation of the group that its 
population is always accessible from within. No formidable 



gathering together of populace is possible because communica- 
tion in all directions may be cut oflF by gunboats, so that even the 
Spaniards could control the situation until they lost command of 
the sea. 

An half dozen light draft gunboats, suitably armed and 
equipped with one hundred and fifty men, could be as efficient to 
maintain order as ten times the force in disturbed regions of 
India. 

This has an important bearing upon American control, 
because such naval force, everywhere accessible, would lessen the 
demand for American regiments to stiffen a native army. 

Probably troops in the field would require an American regi- 
ment with each brigade ; but for garrison dut}', or for short expedi- 
tions in from the shore, where the sea force would have to be 
reckoned wdth, there need be no other than native soldiery com- 
manded by American officers. The European force in India is 
kept at one-third of the total, but with no hostile frontiers to 
defend, and with access for artillery by water to every vital point, 
one-half this proportion will probably be found ample to hold a 
native force up to its discipline. 

The conclusion to be reached is that for maintenance of 
order among the islanders, and as security against unexpected 
and sudden descent from any neighboring hostile power, a com- 
bined land and naval force of twenty thousand men will be ample, 
and that so soon after completed conquest as will allow of time 
for pacification, this force may be converted for four-fifths of its 
number into native recruits. 

The expense of this force will be one of the most important 
points for consideration, when we are ready to take up the gen- 
eral subject of colonial finance, but it might seem appropriate 
under the head of peace and order to consider certain questions 
touching the moral government of the people. Universal 
gambling and cock-fighting seem almost as much opposed to 
Anglo-Saxon notions of law and order as do the scarcely more 
destructive vices of piracy and murder, but at this distance it is 
difficult to determine how much of these vices may be integral of 
native character, and to how much they are indebted to the asso- 
ciations forced upon them for the last three centuries. For this 
reason it seems more appropriate to take up the consideration of 
these evils along with the general topic of education. 



Education. 

It is proposed to give the word education its fullest scope 
and under it to consider all those things which would draw men 
from a lower to a higher condition of mind and body. 

The widely differing circumstances of different tribes, which 
has been already referred to, is one of the interesting phenomena 



in the geographic distribution of the human race. It also com- 
plicates the question of education, but probably does not render 
it more difficult. On the contrary it would .seem probable that 
the more advanced tribes, seeing how far they had already gained 
above their savage neighbors, would be stimulated to make yet 
farther progress. 

The lowest of the races of which we have found description 
are the Ajetas, a dwarf negro people, living in the forests that 
border the Eastern coast of L,uzon. The greatest stature of the 
men is four-and-a-half feet, and in size as well as habits of life 
they resemble very closely the dwarfs of Central Africa. IJke 
them, the Ajetas are forest dwellers, are exceedingly skillful as 
hunters, use poisoned arrows, live in small scattered communi- 
ties without any apparent form of government and are exceed- 
ingly shy. Geroniere, who gives a very intelligent" account of 
them , says' : ' ' They seemed to be rather a large group of monkeys 
than human beings. Their voices resembled the cries of those 
animals and their gestures were exactly like them. The;, only 
difference apparent was that they could use a bow and arrow and 
knew how to light a fire." These people are not numerous, 
and have continued to exist only through the protection of their 
dense forest and the un-enterprising character of the Spanish 
masters of the island. They seem to be a strange survival of the 
very earliest man and are probably incapable of development, and 
in all probability will disappear as the forests are opened up to 
commerce. 

Another race that Geroniere describes are of higher develop- 
ment but of very unpleasant habits. He assisted at a celebration 
by the Tinguians of a victory over the Guinanes, in course of 
which the warriors mixed the brains of their defeated enemies 
into a rum punch and drank the compound with much zest. Yet 
these, like some other cannibal tribes, seem to be a well-developed 
race. The people are described as tall, with regular features, 
straight hair, well-proportioned frames, and of complexion like 
the natives of Southern France. They live on the northeast 
water-shed of L,uzon, not more than ten days' march from Manila. 
Neither the Tinguians nor their especial enemies, the Guinanes, 
who appear to be of much the same stock, can form any large 
part of the population of L,uzon. Fifteen or twenty thousand 
would be a full estimate of their number, from the facts at hand. 
They give the impression of mental capacity equal to any of the 
Pacific islanders — Fijis or others — and would probably take to 
work if a railroad were laid through that section of the island. 

The Igorroti are a more numerous tribe, also living in that 
part of Luzon whose waters drain to north and east. They are 
in a state of development more like some of our North American 
Indians than most of the other Philippine races, but as they have 
considerable plantations of potatoes and sugar-cane they probably 
have more natural aptitude for agriculture than most of our 
native American tribes. 



From such incidental notices of some of the inferior tribes it 
is natural to come back to the Tagals, whose partial civilization, 
number and energy of character make them the chief element with 
which the predominant power governing the island of L,uzon will 
have to deal. 

It is of the highest interest to know that this naturally intel- 
ligent race have rules of local civil government tha,t imply town- 
ship organizations not unlike that which prevails among the 
Anglo-Saxon peoples. Kach minor district, marked by local 
boundaries, is organized as a township. Each year a chief officer 
is elected by the people, who acts as a local magistrate for the 
adjudication of local disputes of small amounts, and who is 
authorized to inflict punishment for minor crime ; but matters of 
large importance he must submit to the governor of the province, 
who in his turn is responsible to the Governor-General. This, of 
course, involves as a finality government by military, and per 
consequence, by arbitrary power, but the important matter is that 
in the thousand concerns of daily life on which general happiness 
depends the people are governed by representative officers of their 
own choice, and this system is one not inaugurated by the 
Spaniards, but was in full working order when they occupied the 
island of Luzon.* It is the natural product of the genius of the 
people. 

The working of the system results in the formation of an 
order of nobility, or perhaps more properly speaking, in a 
recognized order of aristocratic leadership. One of the duties 
of these local officers is to attend to the collection of taxes. Any 
one who has held the dignity of head of the tax collectors 
becomes a permanent member of the order of local nobility. 
Twelve of these local nobles form a committee to superintend 
elections, and it is their duty to call together the older men of 
the community for the annual election. Three names are then 
chosen for nomination to the Governor-General, out of which list 
he selects one to be the District or Township Chief for the year. 
This officer's title is " Gobernadorcillo," meaning literall)^ the 
' ' Little Governor. ' ' f 

At the same annual election, which corresponds in effect to 
our town meetings, all the minor officers are chosen. These are 
the alguazils, or constables, in number to correspond with the 
population of the township ; two township clerks ; an overseer 
of palm trees ; a public vaccinator ; a schoolmaster, and a road 
supervisor. 

In the matter of vaccination and schools the ancietit Tagal 
system demonstrates its ability to embod}' the advances of modern 
ideas. 



* See Geroui^re's "Twenty Years in the Philippines." E"g. Ed., Chap. V. 

t As a badge of office the Gobernadorcillo carries a gold-hended cane with which he is 
expected to strike publicly any fellow-citizen detected in minor faults. Here, by the way, 
we see the fjenesis of Ajfuinaldo's proposed decoration of office. He has simply taken the 
Goberuadorcillo's gold-headed cane and put a fringe to it, if uew.spaper reports be correct. 



As a system it would be difficult to find anything more 
perfectly adapted than this to meet the needs and best aspirations 
of any local community. But as with all other lines of human 
effort the test of efficiency must be judged by the results. 

Unfortunately the natural harmony of result that might have 
been expected is distorted by a malign influence that has worked 
for the ruin of Spain and all that is Spanish for the last three 
centuries. 

The bigotry of the Spanish character broods over every 
mental and physical influence emanating from the peninsu.la. 
Thus when Christian missionaries went to the Philippines they 
could only be members of the Church of Rome, and unfortunately 
for their converts, and for the consequences of their teachings, 
they were of the Church of Rome as organized by Spanish 
methods and dominated by Spanish thought. 

They gave such development to the Roman church as would 
spring from the birthplace of the Inquisition and be admin- 
istered by the countrymen of Torquemada. It is such a church 
as would be the natural offspring of that country where alone 
in the world the monasticism of the fourteenth century still 
finds approval. 

Yet, so great is the vital spark of Christianity ! It is still 
to this selfish, misbegotten, perverted Spanish ecclesiastical 
structure that all the recent civilization of the Philippines ow^es its 
existence. 

From this church the islanders derive all they have of 
Christian faith ; and by it has been fostered to a great degree 
their capacity for combined effort in a large way for purposes of 
agriculture, manufacture, and art. It has brought them into 
touch with the movement of thought through the world and has 
taught them something of the true value of conduct in life. The 
church has been for them at once a fostering mother and a foul 
oppressor. It has given them life and goaded them to rebellion. 

Necessarily there is reverence and attachment for the good 
they have received, no less than resistance and hatred because of 
the evil. 

The history of the Spanish Church in Manila seems to have 
been much as might have been foreseen from a knowledge of its 
antecedents and of the childlike but acute people with whom it 
had to deal. It gained their confidence by sympathy anH humble 
deportment until it had mastered their language and the peculiar 
influences of fear and reverence that dominated their lives. Then 
the astute fathers substituted Satan and Purgatory for 'he 
Tic-balan*, and trading on the inborn superstition of the half 
civilized people made themselves their masters. The}' corrupted 
the township elections and perverted the mind of the Governor- 
General in his selection from the list of nominees. They secured 
the most fertile situations for their monasteries, and appropriated 

* A class of evil spirits which the Tagals regard with great terror. 

13 



lands for the monastic farms over vast stretches of countr3^ 
The}' org-anized culture of cane, tobacco, and the abaca upon an 
enormous scale and took care that all the profits should result 
to the monastery or the monastic clientele. The}^ saw to it that 
the business of teaching- school should be an empty form, but 
that the pay for the service of teaching should come in full to the 
church. 

Birth, marriage, and death became to the church no other 
than providential occurrences b}' which more land or more money 
might be wrung from the faithful. 

The monastic corporation may be born, but it is not sup- 
posed to die, and it certainly does not marry. There is therefore 
all the more reason why the child-like Tagal, male and female, 
should dutifully wait on the wants of the fathers. 

If there were no other reason why the United States should 
take over the administration of these islands, it would be found 
in the diiScult position to which the Catholic Church finds itself 
brought by the mismanagement of its officers- No other nation 
can adjust so well as ours these difficulties. Strange as it may 
seem, the reason obviously is that in no other country does so 
perfect a concordat exist as here b,etween the Church and the 
Government. Like the English constitution the mutual under- 
standing existing in the United States between State and Church 
works all the more perfectly because it is unwritten. If it were 
necessary to state the principle of adjustment between them by a 
single sentence, it might be said, " Government concerns itself 
with the corporal existence of all men ; Church with the souls of 
those it can reach," with the corollary that the Government shall 
decide at what point the dividing line may on any occasion lie. 

In this connection it is not necessary to analyze too finely. 
While the Roman Church is not generally acceptable to the Saxon 
mind, it will readily be seen there is no quarrel between our 
institutions and the Roman Hierarchy. The clergy^ of Rome has 
in this country, in face of many discouragements, won for itself 
a position of influence and respect. Its fathers have demon- 
strated that their church can adapt itself to the requirements of 
free institutions. 

Thus it providentially happens that while on the one hand 
the native Christian population of Luzon is all stirred into moral 
revolt b}^ the un-pastoral character of their spiritual leaders, so 
that they strike wildly, not wholly seeing what the evil is, yet, on 
the other hand the guns of Admiral Dewej' have opened the door 
of advent for a new school of moral instructors who have grown 
up under such surroundings as enable them exactly to supply the 
wants imperfectly called for by the moral consciousness of the 
revolted people. 

In dealing with the Filipinos the first object of American 
statesmanship must be to gain the confidence of the two leading 
tribes — the Tagals and the A'inayas. Although separated by 
channels of the archipelago, as well as by memory of old tribal 

14 



feuds, these, in view of the dominant power, may be treated as 
one people. The process is the same for both, and when they are 
won the problem of the Philippines has reached solution. 

As already stated, they have natural aptitude for self-govern- 
ment, and the ground- work of free institutions already well 
established among them, but in many respects thej' are indeed 
but children of a larger growth. 

Morally timid and superstitious, easily swayed by their 
emotions, pleased by spectacular effect, affectionate and revenge- 
ful, they are in precisely that state of mental development where 
proper religious teaching becomes the most important factor of life. 

The statesman who can control the situation raised by present 
events must know how to deal with this mental attitude. He 
must provide the necessary religious and secular instruction for 
these people, both children and adults. In doing so he will be 
wise to call to his aid the Roman clergy of this country. He 
need not fear the essential influence of a creed that has produced 
a St. Francis or a Father Damien. He need only take care that 
he .is acting with men of the proper brand. 

B)^ this course there can be retained for the Filipinos that 
S3mipathetic adaptation to the mental needs of undeveloped 
races, of which the Roman Church has so often demonstrated 
its peculiar possession ; while at the same time means can be 
found to clear away the mass of corruption and lust that has 
gone so far to destro}^ the value of what good work the Church 
has done. 

The line of division by which the good can be kept and t-he 
evil abated, will be found to run for great part between the secu- 
lar and monastic priesthood. A mock celibacy has no place in 
modern civilization, least of all in such a climate and among such 
people. On the other hand the village priest living among and 
bringing to the people the sympathy of a higher nature, and 
supervised in his work by pure and patriotic prelates, is an ever- 
ready instrument for general forward movement. 

It will be a considerable undertaking to break up the monastic 
establishments. Some resolution will be required in dealing with 
the friars, and some tact in disposing of the lands and personalty 
of the various corporations. A very large part of the cultured 
land of Luzon are said to be occupied by the monks. It will not 
do to let these lands go out of cultivation, but the same peasants 
who work them now as serfs of the convents, will be glad to con- 
tinue to work them as tenants of the State. 

It is not to be supposed that the Roman clergy in America 
will lend their aid to anj' policy opposed by the Propaganda 
at Rome. But on the other hand the Roman Propaganda has 
moved a little forward and will be able to understand that the 
Church stands to receive more for legitimate Church purposes 
from a given number of square miles of land, cultivated by free 
communicants, than from the same district when the income has 
to filter through the treasury of the local convent. 

15 



Probabl}' judicious use of religious teaching will be the best 
means to limit the private indulgence in cock-fighting and 
gambling. The American people are not free from debasing 
vices, and the cock-fighting habit is not morally equally worse 
and probably more easily subdued than the whiskj' habit. But 
the public countenance which is given to these vices by the State 
lottery is something that neither the conscience of our people nor 
the good of the islands can accept, or permit to continue a moment 
after the responsibility for it shall fall upon us. 

In dwelling at some length upon the religious aspect of the 
question of the Philippines we have not overlooked the more 
obvious difficulties of civil administration. Not only must we 
educate the Filipinos to the level of free instiutions, but we have 
still to educate those who are to teach the Filipinos ithese desir- 
able things. We have lawyers in plenty and some soldiers, but 
the Indian civilian officer should be something of a lawyer, 
something of a soldier, and should combine these characters with 
a strong admixture of farm sense. 

In the United States there exists no class of family tradition 
as in England or Holland, where from generation to generation for 
two centuries has been handed down to nephews and younger 
sons the experience and field lore of hundreds of commissioners, 
collectors and adjutants. These men returning from government 
in the East have taught the younger men at home how to govern 
th'^' Oriental. 

At the outset we shall have to govern by the military arm, 
fe-iat with all respect to General Merritt, this is not a system that 
o^n be suffered to continue long. 

' ' Military eduction casts the mind into a mould too rigid for 
ready conformity with exigencies of commercial and agricultural 
life. It should not be our purpose to dragoon the Filipinos, but 
to draw them by ties of peace and commercial prosperity into 
better conditions. 

To appreciate this difficulty is the first step toward overcom- 
ing it, and with the will to succeed we shall no doubt find the 
means of success. It is first to be noted that the Filipinos are 
not unintelligent. There are very many of our laborers whose 
intellects are not more alert than many of these islanders. 
Accordingly any of us who are used to large industrial undertak- 
ings are in a way to make successful administrators. This might 
not apply to those engaged in textile operations where the 
employes are largely women and children, who have their ener- 
gies deadened by constant indoor life ; but any masters used to 
controlling gangs of working men in the open would be likely to 
have the sort of mental training that would make them capable 
to manage the districts or provinces into which the Philippines 
are divided. Our railroads and great iron establishments will be 
found not bad schools from which to graduate administrators for 
such provinces and districts. There are hundreds of young 
engineers with some practice in the field who would go out for 

i6 



minor positions with the same sense of duty and something very 
nearly the same of education as that taken to India by Lawrence, 
Edwardes and Roberts. 

Now that the door has been opened upon so noble a sphere 
of work we cannot believe the spirit of human progress will 
permit it to be closed. 

Commercial Development 

Without the expectation of marked industrial improvement 
in the Philippines this country would not be justified in its own 
eyes to retain them ; while other nations, who have interests in 
the far East, would regard a long continuance of present 
disturbances, very much as disturbances in Cuba have been 
regarded in the United States. 

It will therefore be among our first duties to study the 
natural resources of the islands with a view to their quick 
development, and to such occupation of the native mind as will 
prevent disorder. The theory of land tenure is that all the land 
belongs to the State until disposed of by donation, sale or rental. 
This is a perfectly familiar idea in our home legislation. No 
matter what form of government may be determined upon as best 
suited to the circumstances of the islands, whether they be 
erected as dependent States, or governed territorily, or adminis- 
tered as the English do their Crbwn Colonies, in neither case need 
there be any confusion about the disposition of unseated lands. 
The United States has always had its land offices open within the 
limits of some of the sovereign States of the Union, and there 
appears no reason why the same system should not be applied in 
Luzon as well as in Illinois or Minnesota. On the opening of 
such offices means should be taken to have the fact well adver- 
tised over the whole world. The attractions that can be offered 
are such that a considerable source of revenue ought to be 
derived from sales of land as well as a much greater advantage 
accrue from introducing a new population. An office for sale of 
land has existed under the Spanish colonial government ; but it 
has made little or no effort to survey the lands nor bring them 
into the market. For all practical purpose they have been held 
out of the general reach and subject to the convenience of the 
convents to take up what they might from time to time care to 
possess. What the Spanish asking price has been for unseated 
lands does not appear. Most likely it was but a few cents per 
acre, and it would not be wise to make any advance when we 
shall have entered on control. In view of the long and expensive 
sea voyage the price for agricultural lands especially will have to 
be kept low in order to encourage settlers. 

Important as the unseated farm lands of the islands must be 
they form but a small part of the land values coming to the 
dominant power. The timber and mineral lands are likely to 

17 



prove of ver}^ great value. Probably for purposes of administra- 
tion some apportionment of values will have to be made between 
the United States as sovereign of the archipelago and such 
local government as may be established. The latter would seem 
to be the better medium for getting the best value out of the 
timber and mineral lands. These are questions that must be left 
for the future and the wisdom of Congress to determine. We 
can do no more than indicate in a general way what the resources 
of those lands are supposed to be. Beyond collecting gold or 
silver already in sight, the science of metallurgy has had no 
attractions for the Spanish mind. Hence there has been no 
attempt at scientific explorations of the islands. 

Gold is known to exist and is thought to be smuggled out of 
the countr}^ in considerable quantities by the Chinese traders. In 
a country governed by rapacious or unchecked officials little 
better could be expected. Large amounts, known, to be in 
hands of individuals would have been subject to heav}^ taxation, 
hence the whole business has been private and contraband, and 
under such conditions the gold product could not reach an 
amount of commercial importance. 

The failure of Spain to develop the production of gold in 
the Philippines does not argue against its existence, any more 
than the like failure in California, where it was known to the 
Spaniards long before '48. 

A stronger doubt as to its existence in large quantities might 
be found in the narrow territory through which the quartz must 
run, if it exist at all. But on the other hand, the Luzon moun- 
tains may be a distant extension of the West Australian reefs 
and like them immensely rich in auriferous rock. 

At present the gold is extracted only from surface workings. 
Gironiere says the natives washed out from one to ten francs a 
day. More recent accounts speak of mines worked by hand- 
pumps, which we take to be wells sunk in the river gravels. 
The only conclusion derivable from the facts at hand is that the 
possible gold output is worth careful examination. 

The same metallurgic neglect obscures the data as to iron ores. 
There are well accepted reports of the existence of excellent iron 
ore in large quantities along the western shores, but no effort 
appears to have been made to trace them up. Santiago of Cuba 
is the oldest city in America, and some of the best iron ores have 
])een overlooked in its immediate suburbs until recently developed 
from the United States. 

The same conditions may easily exist in the Philippines, and 
taken in connection with the coal supply, which is known to 
exist, the resulting possibilities are most momentous. The 
relative locations of the coal and iron ore have not been found 
stated, but no point on these islands can be more than a few miles 
from the sea, and with a seafaring population willing to work 
and find themselves at three or four dollars per niontli, the cost 
of bringing the coal and iron together may prove to be less than 

18 



in any other iron region. There is at least a possibility of domi- 
nating the whole western coast of the Pacific with iron made in 
the Philippines. 

Copper has been found at points along the coast in a granular 
condition, of quantity sufficient to pay for collecting and sending 
to market. This seems to indicate the existence of veins that 
will pay to work. 

Leaving the metallurgy of the islands as a matter well worth 
careful investigation, there is no want of certainty about the 
agricultural products. The exports of sugar, tobacco, hemp 
fibre, dye-woods, coffee, etc., are such as to give the islands a 
well established place in the world's commerce. This commerce 
was first opened up from Mexico, and until the beginning of this 
century was carried on from there in Spanish bottoms. An 
American house, Russell, Sturgis & Co., was one of the first 
non-Spanish houses established in Manila. The total exports 
have reached $27,000,000 in one year. A population that can 
produce in such quantity, under the discouragements of Spanish 
rule, must have great agricultural aptitude, and under a better 
system be able largely to increase its output. Of the hemp fibre 
these islands have a monopoly. As is well known, it is not 
hemp at all, but is taken from a species of the banana plant, 
called by the natives abaca. It is indigenous in the Philippines, 
and has never been successfully cultivated elsewhere. If pro- 
duced more cheaply its uses might be much enlarged. 

The present article of commerce is prepared but from the 
coarse outer rind of the plant. Inner filaments exist of differ- 
ent degrees of fineness, which are sorted out by the natives into 
various textile products. Some of these are as delicate as the 
finest lawn and more lustrous. These are worn bj^ wealthy 
people in Manila, and are of a quality that has caused them to 
be written of as of vegetable silk. Were the islands not Spanish 
it would be a matter of surprise that these fabrics have not become 
a large object of export. But as they are, it is a fact that out of 
Manila this material can only be found in certain museums or in 
the vestment rooms of the monasteries of Southern Spain. 

There is every probability that an intermediate condition of 
the fibre, between the coarse outer and excessively fine inner tegu- 
ment, is susceptible of being woven into a strong cloth like linen, 
which would be the best of all garments for military wear in hot 
climates, and by introducing it into the uniform of the island 
soldiery a strong impulse would be given to the development ot 
local textile manufacture. 

Another neglected article of commerce is to be found in the 
forests of these islands. For present purposes they are said to 
be practically inexhaustible. Under proper oversight by govern- 
ment they may long remain so, and by the small cost at which 
timber should be brought to navigation the woods of the Philip- 
pines may serve a very useful and needed purpose in supplying 
the depletion of our American forests. 

19 



Amoii^ the minor products are mother of pearl and mica. 
These articles are used for glazing such windows as are glazed in 
the islands. As the latter article sells at six dollars a pound in 
this country and as window and plate glass, according to size and 
([ualit}'-, vary from four cents to tweut}^ cents per pound it is 
evident that the opportunity exists for a profitable exchange. 

The production of coffee has been taxed almost to the pro- 
hibition point, and with proper encouragement might be much 
enlarged. The hillsides of northeastern L,uzon are said to be 
especially adapted to its culture. 

In connection with the coffee crop the internal development 
of the island of Luzon will have to be considered. This crop 
will bear the relatively high rates that will in the first instance 
have to be charged on railway traffic, and can thus be made the 
means of settling up the distiirbed, or at least, little known, 
interior regions. Starting from Manila a line via Bulacan and 
Pampanya up the valley of the Baluing River could, without any 
excessive engineering outlay, be laid across the mountains and 
down the Mayot or some other affluent into the great Cagauyan 
River valley, which constitutes the best part of the north end of 
the islands. This would bring the best coffee district of the islands 
into direct communication with Manila, which metropolis must 
always be the source of supply for banking capital and means of 
transport. The higher slopes of the hills along this line would 
probably be found excellently suited to the tea plant, the culture 
of which could be introduced from Canton, at least as easily as 
it was brought to Ceylon and Darjiling by the English. 

One such line of railwaj^ as this will probably be found best 
to build under some convention by the State, but beyond that 
there need be no expenditure for public improvements other than 
some building of wharves and macadamized roads, to provide 
means of access from the navigable waters to the hill country 
that pres.ses so closely on all sides. 



Colonial Finance. 

The possibility that the United States shall have to consider 
questions of colonial finance opens new lines of political thought 
and causes doubt in several directions whether the part of wisdom 
would not lie in declining to take the responsibility involved in 
giving answer. 

As to any particular colony, shall it be run uuder its own 
especial budget, or shall its receipts and expenditures be merged 
in the general accounts of the government, as the national post- 
office accounts are merged ? 

If run under its own budget shall the colony be worked 
for a profit, or will it be wise to provide reasonable assist- 
ance from the national purse in expectation of large future direct or 
incidental income ? 



Again : If desired to merge the colonial budget, will it be 
possible to do so without applying the national fiscal system of 
duties and excise in full to the colony ? 

Yet again : If it runs under its own budget shall the 
national fiscal system be extended to it, or shall its own system 
be preserved intact or modified ? 

These are general questions which apply to every colony of 
any form whatever, and have been variously answered according 
to time and locality. 

It would be beyond the present purpose to trace the prob- 
able results of each variation in the answer to these questions. 
The object here is to show that the Pliilippines should be self- 
supporting in every particular, with sufficient surplus to reim- 
burse all reasonable expenses and outlay on part of the dominant 
power. As the exactions of Spain have been quite beyond reason 
it is evident that these islands have in the past done more than 
the United States should require, but there remains the possibility 
that their recuperative power has been overstrained, so that on 
return to proper conditions they may fall below the standard of 
self-sustenance. 

It will be seen that their real condition cannot be so bad as 
this, and for purpose of comparison, we shall suppose that they 
will be constituted as a dependent realm, having its own proper 
fisc, and ruled by governor and council, who shall be responsible 
to the Congress of the United States for the proper collection and 
expenditure of the income and outgo of the moneys provided by 
the fisc. 

As the character of the population does not admit of fiscal 
responsibility, it is assumed that the present system will be con- 
tinued, subject to such modifications as the governor and council 
may make under restrictions of the powers granted to them. 

This supposed system .of government is the form under 
which the English administer the Empire of India, and the 
Indian fiscal system will be the safest parallel from which to 
draw conclusions as to the management of the Philippine revenues. 

Not only is information as to the Indian budget readily 
accessible, but the general conditions have certain broad lines of 
similarity. The governing people are the same race as ourselves 
and naturally the same ideas in jurisprudence and commerce will 
influence expenditures ; while the dependent people have in the 
main the same characteristics of patient but unintelligent indus- 
try. Hence the general rules best suited to the Philippines may 
be worked out from Indian examples. There are sources of 
income in India, such as the opium duties, not likely to be 
tolerated by the judgment of our people, and there are items of 
expense upon the frontiers and famine relief that have no analogy 
in the islands, but in a large sense it may be assumed that the 
proportion of population -to fiscal movement will be found the 
same in the communities of Hindustan and the Philippine archi- 
pelago. 



This rule would make the Philippine budget stand in about 
one twentieth of that of India, and make it amount to an income 
and outgo of fifteen million dollars per annum, or an amount not 
very different per capita from the State of Pennsylvania. It 
might naturall)' be supposed that, in dealing with a less highly 
organized population and one used to a very much less scale of 
cost in living, the fiscal movement should be proportionately less. 

This consideration is however offset by the need of the Fili- 
pinos to sustain such quasi-national expenses as are implied by 
a small permanent army and a marine sufficient for purposes of 
local police. The executive branch of the administration with 
its staff will need also to be sustained on the scale usual in the 
East, which implies a certain amount of display to impress the 
eastern mind, that is not called for by the intelligence of the 
American people. 

The largest item of India revenue is the land tax. This is 
based on the theory of government ownership of the land, so that 
the tax assumes in the native mind the form of a rent, and is 
collectible from the land or by distraint. It is allotted by villages 
and accepted by the people as one of the necessary processes of 
nature, like the rising and setting of the sun. 

The equivalent tax in the Philippines is the cedula, from 
which about two million dollars are said to be collected. Spain, 
with her usual blindness, has urged this tax beyond the breaking 
point ; that is to say, instead of making collectible from the 
product ot the land, she has assessed it upon the person, and 
collects by processes that involve slavery for the delinquent tax- 
payer. As the minimum charge for cedula is said to be $1.50 
per annum, and as farm laborers get only five cents per day, 
many must fail to pay the tax and consequent!}^ lose their cedula 
for the year. This is a pass which permits men to go about and 
attend to their work, and a failure to produce it on demand ren- 
ders them liable to arrest and criminal punishment. This evil 
seems to be the chief among many causes of native dissatisfac- 
tion that have led up to the present insurrection. 

The remedy will be found in going back to the principle of 
village responsibility, and in assessing the amount of cedulas due 
from each community upon the village as a whole. Made up in 
this way the amount will not be so onerous, because it can be 
distributed more evenly in proportion to property or land values 
and by making the chief man in each township or village respon- 
sible for the collection they will find other means of collection 
than transi)ortation or forced labor in the mines. Their com- 
pensation would come from increased local influence, and if part 
of the tax were used for road building or other village improve- 
ments they would benefit by increased value of their property. 
Ivven if it shoukl be found necessary to remit a portion of the 
receipts from the cedula it would be better to lose a part of the 
revenue derived than to resort to violence against personal liberty 
in order to collect it. 



The next item in position on Indian Bndget is tribute 
from feudator}' princes. The equivalent amount of revenue for 
the Philippines would be $150,000. There is no such amount 
subject to collection on the island of Luzon, but possibly 
there may be among the southern islands. The amount is not 
so large as to figure as an indispensable item in the budget 
for the Philippines. 

The succeeding item on the Indian budget figures at 
j;-,, 300,000 from product of forests. Presumably the greater part 
of this is from the teak forests of Burma. The equivalent in- 
come in the Philippines would be $160,000, but this amount 
should be capable of a large increase. If reports may be credited 
the island of Luzon itself should supply an amount of teak equal 
to Burma. The mountains are said to be heavily timbered with 
this wood and mahogany, and they have sharp descents to the 
neighboring sea, under these conditions the expense of getting 
timber to market ought to be as light there as anywhere else in 
the world, and the destruction of our home forests maybe averted 
by drawing on these almost inexhaustible woodlands. 

The income of India from excise stands at twelve million 
dollars or the Philippine equivalent at $600,000. An itemized 
comparison is not possible, as the Philippine receipts are not pub- 
lished, but the tobacco monopoly alone must yield the island gov- 
ernment as much as this. One million dollars per annum would 
not be an extravagant estimate for excise receipts among the 
islands. 

The receipts from customs in India are very light for the 
population of that empire. They figure only about thirteen 
million dollars. Obviously this small result is due to peculiar 
English notions. Duties must not be levied on Indian imports, 
because to do so would hamper English merchants and manu- 
facturers. For the same reason export duties on wheat and 
cotton would not be permissible, while opium figures for all it is 
worth in the direct tax against the farmer on its production, and 
could not be exported if it had to meet another charge at point of 
shipment. By these means India easily loses a large natural 
income and ceases in this item to be a safe indication of what 
should be done at Manila. 

It should be remarked at once that the great Eastern question 
typified as the "open door " is not involved in any points that 
may result in considering the custom duties of the Philippines. 
The world will not suppose that we conquer the Philippines to 
make a present of their trade to E^ngland, France and Germany. 
The ' ' open door " regards China only. It would have been use- 
less to ask Spain to throw open the door at Manila, and if we 
take over the Spanish islands we take them as Spain leaves them. 
It may be good policy to support England in the "open door," as 
to China, and the moral influence of our fleet in the Bay of Manila 
will tell strongly in that direction ; but we are no more bound to 
open Manila than to open New York or San Francisco. 



23 



The determination of the custom dues for the Philippines 
must be, first, by what is best for those islands ; second, by what 
modifications may be possible in existing conditions to increased 
trade with the United States. 

With a combined incoming and outgoing commerce of fifty 
million dollars, there should be no difficulty in getting revenue 
enough to supply the new demands of the budget caused b}^ any 
abatements that may have to be made from the cedula or other 
excessively onerous internal taxes. 

Import duties of about forty per cent, on gross imports has 
proved to be a rate easily carried in the United States, and if 
reports may be accepted as true that are rife about the old 
methods of customs officials in Manila, the Filippinos would be 
pleased indeed with that rate if fairl}'- and honestly collected . 

Export duties also are collected there. It is true that this is 
a form of impost to be used with the utmost circumspection, as it 
undoubtedly tends to discourage production. But where an 
article is produced at less cost than anywhere else in the world 
the product partakes of the character of a monopoly and may 
safely be asked to pay export duty. In the abaca fibre and in 
the finer grades of timber the Philippines possess just such 
articles, so that this form of revenue need not necessarily be 
excluded from consideration. As we are supposing the islands 
to be governed as a dependent realm and not as an integral part 
of the United States, the provision of the Constitution against 
export duties does not apply, and the whole subject is open to the 
widest and most intelligent treatment. 

In one sense it is fortunate that the Philippiuos have been 
indurated to corruption, for the reason that, while new methods 
are necessarily liable to entail some mistakes and make some 
losses, the margin created by honest methods ought to be more 
than large enough to carry the new authorities over the experi- 
mental period. 

Without undertaking to go into detail it may be assumed 
that a customs impost of twenty per cent, upon gross commerce, 
or of forty per cent, upon imports can be carried without detriment 
to the commerce of the islands. This possibility^ implies a very 
satisfactory and elastic revenue, for if our figures are correct a 
considerably less amount of customs receipts than this will pro- 
vide for all the required expenditures. 

The salt tax in British India produces eleven per cent, of the 
entire revenue ; or at its Philippine equivalent, $1,600,000. A 
tax that jumps into evidence with every pinch of salt is not one 
to be too readily adopted. The Oabelle, or salt tax, of the ancieu 
reffinic, was one of the most obxious influences in bringing about 
the French Revolution, and since that time financial students 
have been timid about recommending it. But as salt is an article 
of universal use and yet is in some sense a luxury, it has the 
characteristics suited to full taxation. The proper way to treat 
the salt question in the Philippines would be the levy of a 

24 



moderate duty, with a slight preferential in favor of that imported 
from the United States ; and added to this might be a slight 
excise upon the salt sold at the municipal " estancos." 

The sale of revenue stamps on the scale of India would 
produce in the Philippines $750,000, and if this source of revenue 
has not been used on the islands, there would be in such fact 
another proof of the natural elasticity of Philippine finances. 
Following the above items of the Indian budget are those which 
include income from the imperial mint, post-office, telegraph, 
court fees, irrigation rentals. State railways, etc., with all 
making an aggregate from these items of fifty million dollars. 
Following the ratio of one-twentieth, this would give an income 
from public works of #2,500,000, but public works in the Philip- 
pines can hardly be said to have any existence. There is the 
Cavite arsenal, and some light-houses and harbor improvements, 
but they cannot be classed as productive of revenue, and for the 
purpose of this rapid outline it will be better to consider the 
main sources of income as having been marked out as shown by 
schedule given below. 

Upon the other side of the budget an estimate of expendi- 
tures can be obtained in the same manner by reference to the 
Imperial Indian accounts. Apart from interest and famine relief 
the great items of Indian expenditure are the army, revenue 
collection and public works ; in addition to which are naturally 
the expense of civil and judicial administration. 

Famine is a thing not heard of among the Filipinos, and it 
may assumed that if we retain the islands they will have no debt 
charged upon them from any hypothecations that Spain may have 
made for her own benefit. If it shall appear that debts have been 
incurred for public improvements of real value, a different condi- 
tion would arise, and it may be assumed that the improvements 
would take care of the debt. Of the other items that calling for 
much the largest appropriation is the army. 

The Indian army costs about I400 per man annually. This 
is hardly more than one-third the cost of the army of the United 
States, but it must be remembered that the latter is much the 
most expensive per head in the world. High pay, larger rations, 
excessive number of officers, and heavy transportation charges 
with other incidentals amply account for that high cost. 

There is no need to carry the same scale into the Philippines. 
Our officers are fully capable of organizing a native force on the 
general plan of the Indian army. Nor need there be any undue 
anxiety as to the behavior of such a force. The Tagals keep 
faith loyally under just treatment, and it does not appear that 
even under the Spanish regime the native troops were untrue to 
their salt until the naval collapse of the first of May demonstrated 
the break-up of Spanish power. 

As already suggested, by keeping the artillery in control of 
white troops, even a less proportion of the home army need be 
kept in the Philippines than England keeps in India, because of 

25 



the gunboats and complete command of the waterways for rapid 
movements from point, so that any disaffected body could be 
instantly isolated. As the cost of living in the Philippines is 
even less than in India, the naval expense may be carried jointly 
witli the land force at $400 per man. 

We estimate this force sixteen thousand officers and men, 
and add to it a small division of the home army, calculated at five 
thousand men, largely composed of artillery and cavalry. 

The Indian charge for collection of revenue seems excessive, 
as it amounts to fourteen per cent, upon the entire revenue. This 
high cost is ^largely due to the expense of collecting the opium 
tax which is thirty per cent, upon the gross revenue. The col- 
lection charge is also ratably higher, because of the very small 
proportion of the English revenue in India secured from customs, 
which form of income is secured at less cost than any other of 
the great items of national fisc. The Indian land tax collection 
figures 12^4 per cent., and other items, apart from opium tax, at 
1 1 per cent, of the gross income. 

Our own customs rate is about five per cent, for collection, 
and considering the few ports and compact character of the 
Filipino trade the cost there ought not to be greater. Certainly 
ten per cent, on gross revenue should be the maximum allowed 
for the income of the island government. 

Public improvements, especially the irrigation and railway 
system have been forced on the English Government of India by 
the peculiar formation and the isolated positions of vast masses 
of the population, situated so that a failure of crops in one region 
was incapable of being overcome, for lack of communication with 
other parts of the peninsula. Hence arose the absolute need for 
facilities to combat famine. No such appalling conditions are 
possible among the Philippine islands. A few docks and a few 
macadamized roads, which can be constructed to pay their own 
charges are all that will be demanded of the government, and other 
improvements may be left for the ordinary course of commercial 
development. No estimate therefore on this head is needed. 
Civil administration, including the medical staff and the police, 
calls for twenty-three million dollars in British India. The 
proportionate amount of the Philippines would be $1,200,000, 
which may seem large, but a certain amount of ostentation on 
part of the government is the truest economy in dealing with 
orientals, and this figure sliould not be reduced, even although 
the medical needs of the islands are likely to be very small in 
comparison with Hindustan. 

The liducation and Printing Bill for India, reduced to the 
Philippine scale, would stand only at 5?i5oo,ooo. This is much 
too small. PMucation for the Filipino is both more easy to take 
and more necessary to have than for the Hindu masses. It has 
been the neglected duty of the Church, and will be a natural 
charge against the properties which the monks have forfeited by 



non-user for purposes of their trust. The amount of appropriation 
should be not be less than $1,000,000. 

These few leading heads may be sufficient to indicate the 
character of the budget needed by the Philippines and at least 
suggest certain general lines of thought. The income and outgo 
of public works will probably come in time, and wdth them will 
come interest on public debt.; but for immediate purposes the 
items of miscellaneous disbursements and receipts are large 
enough for such unforeseen contingencies. 

And the table of probable receipts and expenditures, as given 
below, is deemed a fair indication of working quantities, and as 
such worthy of attention : 

KECEIPTS. 

Laud Tax (or Cedula) $5,000,000 

Forests 1,000,000 

Excise (tobacco tax, etc.) 1,000,000 

Customs 10,000,000 

Salt 750,000 

Stamps 750,000 

Miscellaneous 1,500,000 



520,000,000 



PAYMENTS. 

Army and Marine : Native, 16,000 men 

@$400 $6,400,000 

American, 5,000 men %$i200, 6,000,000 $12,400,000 

Collection of Revenue 2,000,000 

Judiciarj^ 600,000 

Civil Administration 1,200,000 

Education 1,000,000 

Miscellaneous 2,800,000 



520,000,000 



Conclusion. 



While these thoughts have been getting themselves together 
events important in the history of the world have been shaping 
themselves more rapidly than the intervals of other occupation 
would permit the pen to work. 

The Philippines are now held by right of direct conquest as 
well as by implication of the terms of peace. Yet many of our 
most estimable citizens are weary beforehand of the trouble of 
keeping them. Let them remember that trouble is not avoided 
by running away from it. If the United States had not under- 
taken ten years ago to construct a modern navy the trouble of 

27 



this war with Spain would have been avoided altogether, because 
there would have been no ' ' Maine " to be destroyed in Havana 
harbor. But if there had been no navy Spain would have retaken 
Florida on the plea of breaking up fillibustering from the lagoons 
of that peninsula. 

If we are never going to fight, the Dominion of Canada 
will certainly want the territory now comprised in the States of 
Maine and New Hampshire, to make winter ports for her foreign 
commerce, just as Russia demands the L,iao Tang peninsula, with 
Port Arthur. 

There are five hundred times as many Germans in the city 
of New York as in the city of Manila, and the Emperor of 
Germany would feel that it was but an obvious duty to the 
Fatherland to occupy New York as a coaling station with a 
l)roper sphere of influence over the Hinterland of West Chester 
County and New Jersey. 

If we do not cross the Pacific to the Orient the Orientals 
will not delay to cross it to come to us. San Francisco and Port- 
land would make admirable trading stations for the Japanese, 
unless England should occupy them to forestall such an ignomin}^ 
falling upon her race. 

There is but one course open to brave men ; to go forward in 
the path opened by that higher power which rules the destinies of 
man ; whether we call that power Providence, or give it some 
other name more acceptable to the notions of the day. 

The determination of one fact only remains. The coal 
supply does not exist in Luzon. The solidarity of the Philippine 
Archipelago should not be broken up. How can it be maintained 
without incurring for ourselves the consciousness of over-severe 
pressure upon a defeated and submitting adversary ? 

But one solution presents itself as easily conceivable. Let 
the Peace Commission be liberal in money matters. Our bill of 
expense for the conquest of the Philippines stands only in the 
coal consumption of two monitors, the transportation charges 
for a few thousand men, and last, though largest item, the loss of 
less than one hundred lives. 

Never before was such territory won upon such terms. For 
so much of it as has not been occupied by our troops, or was not 
contemplated by the protocol, let us pa}^ the unexpended margin 
of our war appropriations, or such other sums as may be proper 
to show the world that we can be generous as well as just. 

PUBLICOLA. 



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